Monday

For the last two years, the Nagano Board of Education has listed direct hire ALT positions at high schools across the prefecture. These are cream-of-the-crop jobs, on par with the JET Program in terms of salary and support.

The jobs were first created as Nagano began to pull away from the JET Program, and they are often occupied by 5-year JETs who weren't quite ready to go home. But, the positions are open for anyone to apply.

However, because the package is nice and there is no shortage of applicants each year, the qualifications are steep. For starters, you need to be in Japan and have a valid landing permission for work.

To apply, you'll need a Japanese and English resume, a 1-page essay, and results of a health check.

The contract period is also unusual and deserves mention: The job runs from August to July, on the same timeline as JETs. Nagano appears to be keen on retaining experienced ALTs in their high schools, so contract renewal seems likely here.